FRENCH
RENAISSANCE DANCE: WHAT MAKES IT GREAT
REFLECTIONS ON THE SCEMS-SPONSORED PERFORMANCE PROGRAM JUNE 24, 2012

Musicians:THE WESSEX CONSORT
Dancers: THE GUILD OF ST. GEORGE & ELDORADO DANZA

Dance
historian commentator: Dr. Emma Lewis Thomas

France entered the 1500s as a developing power,
competing neither with the artistic superiority of Italian artists nor coping
with the religious rebellions that occupied England and Germany. The early
French renaissance dance tradition is primarily documented in Burgundy,
beginning with a small tome from the end of the 15th century printed
by Michel Toulouse: l'Art et instruction de bien dancer (ca.1496).It consists primarily of basses danses with a few galliards thrown in to challenge the dancers with lively hopping,
jumping, and circling steps. The text tells the dancer how to execute basse
danse movements: révérences (bows), bransles, simples, doubles, and reprises; then explains the difference between grand, moyen, and petitmésures (dance phrases). These step-units (step sequences)
are recorded as letters below the notes on the musical dance scores reproduced
in the book.Dance
historians also know dances and music notated in the beautiful black parchment
ms: Manuscrit des basses
danses dit de Marie de
Bourgogne (ca. 1495).When performed, these Burgundian scores
reveal a type of “formula” dance, aptly described in Toulouse, whereby the
dancer memorizes short, medium and long measures that quickly convert into
muscle memory, freeing the mind for far more interesting conversation and
challenging repartee.

In 1529 Antonius Arena, a mercenary soldier (later a
lawyer) from Aix-en-Provence, who guarded the Pope when he was deposed from
Rome for two weeks in the 1520s, wrote his ad suos companones et leges
danzandi in Macaronic Latin. It
contains no music, and deciphering the very locally based language has
prevented dance scholars from re-creating the dance step-units and mastering
the material in this book.[1]Pictorial dance evidence shows
musicians playing primarily without music, improvising on wind instruments
out-of-doors, lutes and recorders indoors, generally with a drum to hold the
beat for the dancers.

The one printed book that stands out
as the most important contribution to French dance of the 16th
century was written not in a large or cultured city, but in a very small town
in northeastern France, called Langres,[2]
by a 69 year-old cleric named Jehan Tabourot who used the pseudonym Thoinot
Arbeau, an anagram of his given name, published in 1588 under the title, Orchesographie.

Orchesography[3], widely known in the US in the 1966 Dover edition
translation by Mary Stewart Evans with an introduction and notes by Julia
Sutton, is popular with both musicians and dancers written in the form of a
conversational dialogue. After introducing dancing to young law student
Capriol, the 69-year-old cleric Arbeau justifies learning dance by referencing
antiquity and the Bible, teaching fife & drum rhythms of the military,then describing the dances by placing
the name of the step units immediately next to a musical staff printed
perpendicular to the page.This
allows us, the readers, to recreate the dances with the music as they were done
in 1589. Comical upright figures illustrate the step descriptions. The first
dances described are galliards, followed by la Volte, the Couranto, the Alman,
then two dozen Branles [brawls] that include most of the ones performed at the
SCEMS event.

Dance historians and musicians who recognize many of the “folk” tunes
reproduced in the book have often relegated Arbeau’s book to the “beginners”
shelf; however, I take issue with this point of view for the following reasons:

1.Many dances in the book are complicated
rhythmically and require hours of rehearsal; for example, the galliard, with
its 6 count structure, consisting generally of two measures of music with a
syncopated 5th beat, can have 5 steps with a leap and cadence, 11
steps, 17 steps or 23 steps before the cadence.[4]
Example of a simple galliard:“God
Save the Queen” or its US equivalent, “My Country ‘tis of Thee”.

2.If these dances and this music were being performed in 1588 in
Langres, a tiny northwestern French town south of Burgundy near the Swiss
border, what was being done at court? In Paris? London? Rome?

3.As an introduction
to French dancing at the close of the 16th century, Arbeau is
unparalleled in providing a plethora of clues to the music and dancing of the
time. Its clarity and empirical application can lead to more complex
choreography for music composed for ceremonial dancing and early opera.

The SCEMS-sponsored program on June 26,
2012 sought to demonstrate the wealth of French Renaissance dance and “What makes
it great?”Dance
historian Dr. Emma Lewis Thomas provide insightful commentary on how the French
developed dance as a form of high culture during the Renaissance, forming the
basis of their undisputed status as masters of that art form in the Baroque.Two
dance troupes performed in beautiful costumes, the Guild of Saint George (GSG;
John Smith, Larry Hansen directors) in royal court costumes performed some of
the more refined court dances and theEldorado Danza (EDD; Irene Ujda director) performed son the livelier and
mimed dances. The Wessex Consort (Bruce Teter and John Robinson directors) of
nine musicians used a vast instrumentarium of some 30 period instruments plus
singers in creative combinations of constantly changing sonic palate. The
concert was presented at the Holy Nativity Church in Westchester with great
acoustics and good sightlines for viewing the dancers.

1. The program began with the Pavane pour le Mariage
de Henri le Grand in 1600, a duple
beat processional dance used in courtly and church ceremonies such as the
marriage of Henri VI, King of Navarre, to his second wife, Marie de
Medici.(Henri was raised as a
Hugenot, 1572 crowned King of Navarre, 1589 ascended to King of France – d.
1610)[5]
.The entrance of the dancers up
the central aisle gave the first good glimpse of their fabulous costumes.

The
music has an interesting history. This and several other pieces on the program
are arrangements of French renaissance dances by the music librarian to Louix
XIV, Andre Danican Philador (1647-1730).
It is remarkable that the French Baroque court was compelled to preserve its
historical dance music and is a testament to their recognition of its place in
dance history. The Wessex Consort orchestration featured double reeds that the
French were so enamoured of, the soprano dulcian and a crumhorn consort.

“All musicians are in the habit of opening the dancing at a festival by
a double branle which they call the common branle and afterwards they play the
single branle…The order is determined by the different groups taking part in a
dance: the elderly who dance the double and the single branle sedately, the
young married folk who dance the gay and the youngest of all, like yourself,
who nimbly trip the branles of Burgundy. And every dancer acquits himself to
the best of his ability, each according to his years and his degree of skill.”
(Arbeau p. 129)

To
accompany these rather simple dances, Wessex used both rare instruments and
catchy orchestrations.The double
bransle called La Bounette was played on two uniquely French instruments, the
rare musette bagpipe and the tambourin string drum; the musette was invented
before 1575 for the court ballets of the French king Henri III, who loved
dancing and was the first to put considerable royal patronage into advancing
the art of court dance by developing ballet as a story-telling art form, a form
to be viewed rather than participated in.

The
music for the simple branle, delightfully performed on high recorder consort
with two sopranino recorders on top, was a set oftunes by Pierre-Francisque
Caroubel (1556 –1615) who collaborated with Michael Praetorius (1571-1621).This and several other pieces on the
program were taken from Praetorius’ publication Terpsichore in 1612; so the concert was a celebration of the 400th
anniversary of its publication.That Terpsichore is a
collection of mostly French dances is a testament to the high regard of French
dance at that time. 3. In the Bransle des Chevaux (horse dance), is a miming dance where ladies “ride
sidesaddle”, as was the custom of Catherine de Medici. [6]

The
music(by Caroubel/Praetorius)
used the rustic peasant instruments vielle a roué (hurdy gurdy) and cornemuse
(bagpipe), two instruments that have an unbroken history in France from the
Medieval period up to today where they form the core instruments for French
folk music and dance.

4. There are many tunes used both for dance and for
song. This was illustrated in the program by two tunes, the basse dance
Jouyssance vous donneray and the pavane Belle qui tiens ma vie.

The
dance song, Jouyssance vous donneray (Pleasure will I give you),

is a popular basse danse that dates back to the 14th
century dancing manuals known as “Toulouse” and Antonius Arena’s Macaronic
Latin leges dansandi. From these formula dances, Arbeau calls
for step-unitsreverence,branle, 2 simples, 1 double, and a reprise,
all indicated by one letter of the
alphabet. Then comes the retour
and finally a tordion, “…in
triple time like the basse danse but it is lighter and more lively. “(Arbeau p.
57)

The song was sung by
soprano accompanied by strings and low recorders,The basse dance was then performed in an stirring
arrangement by Wessex member Tom Axworthy, who began with an improvised shawm
solo to announce the dancers entrance, followed by the danceusing the loud wind band instruments of
shawms and bass dulcian (double reeds)with a nice timbral variation provided by the cornetto (that has a
trumpet-mouthpice and finger holes like a recorder).

5.Tourdion
was a delightful choreography by Irene Ujda and her Eldorado Danza, where they
flitted around the audience with peacock feathers.This illustrated the interaction between dancers and
audience common in the Renaissance.

The
music was a appropriately delicate arrangementfeaturing the virginal harpsichord (recently renovated by
Wessex member Curtis Berak), which was doubled with bass recorder, and a
delicate D-bell emphasized the hemiola (two-versus-three) rhythms.This effective arrangement was
considered by many to be one of the highlights of the musical program.

6. Branle Montarde,
Mountain Branle, is a mimed dance in a line, with little springs, circlings,
and a hay, a weaving figure that allows the dance leader to make his/her way to
the end of the line so that each participant in turn can lead.

The
music was published by Pierre Attaignant in Paris using his newly invented
single-impression movable type printing press that revolutionizedthe dissemination of printed music. The
orchestration contrasted the loud wind band (the double reeds rauschpfeife,
shawm, dulcian) with the soft band (violin, recorders, bass viol), with the
occasional stratospherically high garklein recorder on top.

7. Gavottes are a
miscellany of double branles, selected by the musicians and arranged in a
sequence. “We call it the “kissing dance” because the leader is allowed to kiss
all the women in the room and his partner can kiss all the men.” (Arbeau p.175)

The
music featured the low recorder consort from alto down to the great-bass, a
matched set by maker A. Breukink, with two instruments in the key of G instead
of the usual F, which allowed a simple transposition of the music to fit the
low instruments.8. Torche Bransle is a mimed
mixerthat engaged the audience
members,where dancers find new
partners and, eventually, “….all are invited in turn to join in the dance.”

The music contrasted the loud
band and soft band instrument consorts.

9. Buffens mimics
hand-to-hand combat.Arbeau
notated“Buffons” [Buffens], and
described it as a comical Pyrrhic dance for four male warriors in two teams, or
by four Amazons (four women, as performed on the SCEMS program) competing with
each other and for the attention of the courtly audience.
“Legend has it that the Curetes invented the Pyrrhic dance to amuse the infant
Jupiter by their gestures and the noise they make by striking their swords
against their shields. … At the end of each passage one round must be made
circling the hall(so that) the
dancers can collect their wits and think over the next passage.”(Arbeau pp.183-187)

10. Sword flourishesThroughout history, music has played an
integral role in the conduct of military affairs, to communicate commands
across chaotic battlefields,as
well as in the practice of flouryshing – the practice of positions and actions
that are effective for earnest combatand enhancing dexterity. Such Renaissance fighting schools are depicted
in many period artworks with fifers and drummers alongside. Arbeau described
the typical music as improvisations by fifer and drummer in response to the
flourysh action. This interactionwas demonstrated by improvised music on fife and drumin response to the remarkable
improvised sword flourish given by Myles Cupp, an associate instructor in the
Historical European Martial Arts Alliance.

11. Pavane: Belle qui tiens ma vie (Beauty, you who hold my life), which
dates from the 15th century, is the best-known dance song
today.This is a stately dance
that gave opportunity to see the beautiful court costumes of the GSG.It was performed by three singers
accompanied by soft instruments that included the capped double reed cornamuse
and the regal-sounding cornetto.

12. A set of lively galliards was danced to music (by Philador) played on the
recorder consort.

13. A suite of bransles
from the region of Champagne:
Cassandra, Pinagay, Charlotte was
performed on loud wind band, and featuredthe melody-percussion instrument the xylophone which has a European
history from the early 16th C.

14. The final piece, two
of the best known Bourrés, brought together all 14 dancers and 9 musicians – a
remarkable achievement by program director, Bruce Teter and the entire cast of
dancers and musicians.Complete
program notes can be viewed at www.wessexconsort.com.

One of the
most popular French kings, both during and after his reign, Henry showed great
care for the welfare of his subjects and, as a politique, displayed an
unusual religious tolerance for the time. He notably enacted the Edict of Nantes, in 1598,
which guaranteed religious liberties to the Protestants, thereby effectively
ending the civil war. He was assassinated by Franćois
Ravaillac, a fanatical Catholic.